Population growth strong in big cities.

• Position: Brief article

Population in big cities has grown faster so far this decade that it did from 2000-2010, a trend that might continue, or perhaps a lingering effect of the recent economic volatility. Recent Census Bureau statistics indicate that both possibilities may be true.

In an analysis of the Census data, the Brookings Institution notes that "many cities have gained more people in the three-plus years since the 2010 Census than they gained for the entire previous decade." This includes three of the five largest cities, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago (which lost population in the previous decade). Among the 25 largest cities, nine are already ahead of their previous decade's gains, including Dallas, Denver, Memphis, San Francisco, San Jose and Washington, D.C.

Still another positive indicator for big cities is their growth rates, the analysis notes. For each of the last three years, cities with populations of more than 250,000 grew at rates of more than 1 percent, compared to an average annual rate of 0.49 percent over the 2000s. Seattle, Austin...